Sambalpur Municipal Corporation names road after Mahatma Gandhi

Sambalpur: The Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) named the ring road after Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary on Wednesday. The 7.5-km road that runs along the Mahanadi originates from the Nelson Mandela Chowk and joins the National Highway no. 53 at Laxmi Dungri.

Mahatma Gandhi visited Sambalpur twice on December 22, 1928 and May 5, 1934.

On both occasions, he addressed public meetings on the Mahanadi riverbed near Brahmapura temple ghat. “Gandhi had even stayed in Sambalpur during his visit. There are many memories of Gandhi here. The decision to name the ring road after the father of the nation is praiseworthy,” said a resident, Siba Sankar Nanda.

The ring road was constructed to protect the city from floods and provide people an alternative road to the city from the NH-53 in 1997.

The road belongs to the irrigation department. It has been widened into a two-lane road at an estimated cost of around Rs 23.59 crore.

The public works department (PWD) executed the widening and blacktopping work and constructed the median at an estimated cost of around Rs 8 crore.

Beautification work is also going on at a cost of Rs 3 crore by the SMC. The first phase beautification work has been completed at an estimated cost of Rs 98 lakh. The second phase work is going on at an estimated cost of around Rs 99 lakh.

“We will communicate to all government departments, including the irrigation department, PWD and other related departments about the naming of the road after Mahatma Gandhi,” said enforcement officer of SMC, Subhankar Mohanty.